20240925 EF Go Ahead National Parks Bus Tour Day 14/20 - Missoula Montana to Kalispell

American West Bus Tour Day 14/20 - Missoula Smokejumpers, Fort Missoula, and Kalispell 

We made our final push north this morning, but not before touring for a bit in Missoula, Montana. Our first stop was the headquarters of the Missoula Smokejumpers.

Smokejumpers are specialized wilderness firefighters who skydive into remote areas to fight fires. Missoula is one of nine bases throughout the U.S. and houses 60 of the total 450 smokejumpers in the country. The Missoula crew fought 21 fires this year with 142 jumps.

The Welcome Center

The main building

The jump uniform is sewn from Kevlar to reduce punctures/injuries when diving into tree areas - the working uniform on the far right is made from flame-resistant Nomex

They carry an 85-110 pound pack with supplies including this emergency rescue tent - it repels 1600F heat keeping the interior at 150-200F - about like a dry sauna

Recording jumpers with the most jumps overall

Recording jumpers with the most fire jumps

Smokejumpers make their own jumpsuits - the yellow fabric is Kevlar - they all sew their own jumpsuits and packs

The large locker room has personal space for each jumper

Chutes are inspected after each jump - this is a reserve chute

This is the chute folding room - each chute has to be folded after each jump - if unused for six months, a chute has to be unpacked, inspected, and repacked

Supply boxes weighing around 80 pounds are dropped separately and retrieved on the ground

The Short 330 Sherpa aircraft can carry up to ten jumpers with supplies

Due to the extreme physical requirements of the job, jumpers must maintain a rigorous daily workout schedule. To become physically certified, they must carry an 85-pound pack and traverse a three-mile mountain course in 90 minutes or less. After passing that test, they must carry a 115-pound pack over a three-mile flat course in 90 minutes or less to qualify physically. They go through regular training and many become certified parachute riggers, and EMTs, and pass other fire certifications.

This hanging heart memorial is dedicated to the Smokejumpers who gave their lives in service and is made from charred wood from a major fire

We completed our visit and continued with our drive in Missoula.

Appropriately, we passed a car fire about a mile from the Smokejumpers

We stopped for lunch in downtown Missoula.

Our choice for lunch - Notorious P.I.G.

I had the "small" burnt ends sandwich

Arlona had their homemade mac and cheese

After lunch, we walked around downtown Missoula.

Clark Fork River

St. Frances Xavier Jesuit Church, 1892

Missoula County Building

Random art in a random alley

Bluebird Building, also known as the Higgins Block, it was built in 1889

All the utility boxes were painted with different designs

A sculpture called Cattin' Around

Missoula was a pretty town with walking trails along the Clark Fork River. It was time for us to continue exploring, so Robin brought the bus around and we were off for our next stop, Fort Missoula.

Fort Missoula, now a historical museum, sits on 32 acres, and per their website:

...preserves early Fort history dating from its establishment in 1877 in the midst of the Indian Wars; the exploits of the all African American 25th Infantry Bicycle Corps, the century or more of the forest products industry’s culture and innovations; and the World War II internment camp that once held over 2200 Italian and Japanese nationals.

The only known library rail car for forest industry workers

An actual fire watchtower that was relocated to the fort for preservation

Guard cabin

Something we see little of in Florida - changing tree colors

There were lots of trains and other machinery dedicated to the lumbering industry.

Sawmill

Tipi burners, or wigwam burners were named for their resemblance to Native American dwellings - they incinerated sawdust and other by-products from the milling process

This Traveling Trophy was awarded annually to a respected member of the timber industry

They had to leave it wherever it was deposited, couldn't remove anything, and were expected to add new, goofy content to it

Garry, pretending he can send Morse Code

This was crazy - a safe within a safe within a safe

A guard tower from the internment camp

The military museum

After we toured the Fort, we loaded up and continued north to Kalispell.

Heading under an animal bridge - it allows wildlife to safely cross over the highway

Mission Mountains

McDonald Peak

Our first glimpse of Flathead Lake

Flathead Lake is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi in the lower 48 states

It has over 200 square miles of water and 185 miles of shoreline

The southern half of Flathead Lake is within the boundary of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Flathead Reservation

We arrived at our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express in Kalispell ahead of a cold front that brought rain and lower temperatures to the area. The hotel had a complimentary hospitality dinner tonight featuring Oktoberfest-inspired food. We decided that it made sense to stay in and try it.

Bratwurst, German potato salad, and the traditional German blue corn tortilla chips with salsa and guacamole - we guessed that last bit to be Southern German :-)

At 7:00, they offered Otis Spunkmeyer white chocolate macadamia nut cookies that rounded out our evening meal nicely.

As I was typing this after dinner, we heard a loud bang and rumble outside as a thunderstorm passed through. Temperatures are expected to be around 20 degrees lower tomorrow, dropping from the mid-80s to the mid-60s. The rain is expected to hit harder overnight with the potential for 50MPH wind gusts but all that is supposed to move through quickly and tomorrow should be mostly sunny, albeit cooler.

Of course, this all pales in comparison to what Hurricane Helene may deliver at home overnight and tomorrow with the potential for 75MPH winds and rain. Glad we're here.

Tomorrow, we will head into Glacier National Park, our seventh park on this tour. We will tour on the historic red jammer buses and drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road.